


The Night We Began to Heal

by Nehszriah



Series: The Thick of UNIT [13]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005), The Thick of It (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Gen, Kate has worries, Malcolm is a good uncle, Malcolm is also a good beau, Prompt Fic, Smut, Smut and Angst, The Thick Of Unit, continuing of a different fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-26
Updated: 2016-04-26
Packaged: 2018-06-04 14:23:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,368
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6662386
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nehszriah/pseuds/Nehszriah
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>From a tumblr prompt wanting a continuation of "The Year We Fell", by DaraOakwise.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Night We Began to Heal

**Author's Note:**

  * For [DaraOakwise](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DaraOakwise/gifts).
  * Inspired by [The Year We Fell](https://archiveofourown.org/works/5465111) by [DaraOakwise](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DaraOakwise/pseuds/DaraOakwise). 



> I got a prompt to continue DaraOakwise's fic "The Year We Fell", which is fic of my fic "The Thick of UNIT", and after re-reading it several times, I was able to whip this up.

Malcolm trudged through the building, taking solace in the silence that permeated everything. That was a major perk of living where he did—no one bothered him, and it was likely that few even noticed he had been gone for the past two months. He went up to his flat and couldn’t help the way the corner of his mouth twitched up as he felt the familiar feel of the key turning in the lock. Opening the door, he saw his startled niece jumping up from the couch, rushing over to him.

“Uncle Malc!” Lex cried, latching onto him in a tight hug. He put a hand on her head affectionately, glad to see her again.

“Do alright without the old man around?” he chuckled weakly.

“You were supposed to come home _three weeks ago_ ,” she scolded. Lex held her uncle at arm’s length and frowned at him. “Fuck, you’re skin and bones.”

“Didn’t exactly have very good eating opportunities out in the field.”

“That’s fucking bullshit and don’t try to tell me any different—I’m not a child. You were in _Scotland_ , not a remote rainforest.” She took hold of his forearm and pulled him towards the kitchen bar. “Come on, I’m going to get an actual meal in you before anything else.”

“Alexandra, you really don’t…”

“…yes, I do. Now sit down old man and let someone take care of you for a change.” Lex rubbed his buzzed-short hair and laughed as she went into the kitchen. “Kate hates your hair now, doesn’t she?”

“That’s none of your fucking business.”

“You’re such a standoffish cunt, you know that?”

“And don’t you forget it.”

Uncle and niece continued to catch up as Lex whipped up an early dinner for them both. Malcolm tried to join her on the kitchen side of the bar, but she went and forcibly sat him back down. She wanted to do this for him, since the entire time he was gone it was to make sure other people were safe and sound. Fuck the rebel Zygon insurgency, fuck UNIT’s choke-hold on his life and living, and fuck the real-food hunger strike he’d been on to make sure he could pay attention to the details. Whatever he couldn’t consume while walking, he didn’t eat. If that meant oranges and little else, then that’s what it meant, though she wasn’t going to let him get away with that on her watch.

Once Malcolm was stuffed beyond belief, Lex finally allowed him to go off on his own. After he kissed her on the forehead in thanks, he dragged himself into his room and took a long, steaming shower before flopping into bed. A bunk was a bed, but a bunk wasn’t necessarily a mattress, which was the difference as he almost immediately fell asleep. He did not dream, as he would while deployed. The wet dreams that kept him company in his small tent in the middle of the Highlands encampment did not need to follow him back home, for none of the rest of the shit followed him as well.

A few hours of blissful darkness later and worn man woke up to movement in his bedroom. He turned on the lamp and saw it was Kate. Laying on his back, he gave her a grin as she sat down on the bed next to him.

“Fuck—I’m dead, aren’t I?”

“Think again, you berk,” she smirked. She took hold of his hand, lacing their fingers together. “Never did replace those batteries.”

“Lex is on the other side of the wall and I don’t think I have it in me to be quiet,” he confessed. She laughed at that.

“Then it’s a good thing Lex is at my house watching over Fiona, which means we have the flat to ourselves,” she said. She let go of his hand and rolled over onto him, completely ignoring that there was a blanket between them. Kate kissed the corner of Malcolm’s mouth, attempting to entice him into acting further. “We’re going to survive this, I know we are.”

“How are things in the office?” he wondered, letting his hands wander. Even though she was still fully-clothed, it felt good to hold her again. His hands went up her shirt and he could feel the lace that trimmed her bra underneath his fingers. She maneuvered so that she could shove the blanket off her beau and properly see his tenting pants underneath her.

“Calmed down, for the most part,” she muttered. Kate swatted his hands away and pulled her shirt over her head. “The press releases you’ve issued have been helping, but there’s been too much loss of life to simply spin away.”

“That means I need to spin harder,” Malcolm sighed in resignation. He propped himself up on his elbows and strained to kiss her breasts as she shimmied out of her bra. “I wish I didn’t have to, but I need to do it.”

“I know… it’s just…”

“Just what?”

“Gordon was almost in Walsh’s company.”

The silence that followed was heavy in the air as Malcolm sat upright and took his lady in his arms. Kate rested her forehead on his shoulder and exhaled, worry still pressing down on her chest.

“I wanted him to be a teacher,” she said, nearly choking on her words. “Dad and I both… we didn’t want him to do this…”

“Kate, love, no one wants to send their child off to war.” He stroked her hair in an effort to soothe her, hoping it helped even a little.

“I’m doing this so he doesn’t have to!”

“…and he wants to make sure that his mam has someone to lean on, whether she’s with someone or not,” he reasoned. “You’ve got a good boy, and if he was with Walsh’s company, then she wouldn’t’ve been the only survivor… doesn’t matter _who_ those rubber-faced twats morphed into.”

“…but his _sisters_ … his _little brother_ …”

“…if he saw any of those kids there, he’d know immediately something was up. Fiona’s not a pushover, and your ex’s kids likely aren’t either. Gordon can be dense sometimes but give the boy some fucking credit. He popped out of you, yeah?”

She didn’t respond verbally, wrapping her arms around him instead.

“He’s already got a heads-up over everyone else with your blood in his veins alone,” he assured her. “You’re one of the greatest forces that UNIT has—don’t tell me none of that was passed on to your bairn.”

“The Doctor is one of the greatest forces UNIT has,” she corrected. “My father _was_ … am I playing a game I can’t win?”

“As far as I can see? Daddy’s little Tiger is doing him proud.”

“You’re just saying that because I… how did you put it…” She thought for a moment, attempting to swallow tears. “Oh yeah, because I have my ladycock up your arse.”

“That’s a perk—didn’t matter if you joined in whatever wank-mag shit the Scarfys get up to on off-hours and left me up to dry, because you’re the right woman, the right person, for your job.”

“On your back, Tucker,” she ordered through sniffles.

Malcolm obeyed and grabbed for a tissue to wipe her eyes and face with while she shimmied out of her trousers. Luckily she hadn’t been wearing much makeup, allowing his clumsy attempts at cleaning her face to be not nearly as disastrous as it could have been. Kate yanked down his trousers before discarding her knickers and sinking down on his cock, which had been hard soon as he noticed she was there.

“Mmmmm…” she moaned. “ _Hell_ , it was a boring summer without this.”

“It was a boring summer without _you_ ,” he replied, attempting to control his breathing. He was back where he belonged: in the civilized world, with no heather pricking him constantly, and his prick inside his lady-love as she rode him. No terrorist threat, no imminent danger, no Doctor to fucking mind-wipe everyone involved in a peace conference, and no one around to listen to him swear his way through his lackluster orgasm. It’d take a while to get back to form, but in the meantime, that’s what his fingers were for.


End file.
